Box Score
Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. - In front of a near sellout crowd at Draddy Gymnasium, Manhattan held a 39-30 advantage at halftime but George Washington's Maurice Creek scored 24 of his team-high 27 points in the second half to help lift the Colonials to an 80-74 victory over the Jaspers in their home opener.
The Jaspers were off and running in the first half, using a fast-paced offense to jump out to a 27-16 lead when CJ Jones fed Ashton Pankey for a dunk at the 9:32 mark of the first half. A minute later, another Pankey jumper put Manhattan up by 13, its largest lead of the game.
The Colonials cut the deficit to six late in the half at 34-28 but George Beamon drilled a three ball to put Manhattan ahead 37-28 with 2:38 left in the half. Beamon scored 18 of his game-high 34 points in the first half.
George Washington started the second half on a 15-5 run to take a 45-44 lead on a layup by Patricio Garino with 15:39 to play. Manhattan went back in front 49-47 after RaShawn Stores stroked a three-pointer with 12:53 left. On the next possession, Isaiah Armwood scored and drew the fourth foul on Manhattan's Rhamel Brown. Armwood finished the three-point play and the Colonials held the lead from that point forward.
George Washington extended its lead to 63-53 with 8:17 remaining before the Jaspers stormed back. Shane Richards sank two free throws with 6:55 left then drilled a triple to bring the crowd to its feet and the Jaspers to within five.
After a Beamon layup with 2:10 left, Manhattan trailed by three and had two chances to get closer but were unable to do so. The Jaspers cut the deficit to two points twice in the final 1:20 but Creek sank two free throws and Kethan Savage made an off-balance runner to push the Colonials' lead back to four points.
Beamon racked up 34 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and made 13 of 16 from the foul line. He also collected nine rebounds in the effort.
Creek's 27 points led the Colonials, which also received 20 points and eight rebounds from Armwood. Kevin Larsen finished with 12 points and 10 boards. George Washington outrebounded Manhattan 43-30.
"We are a defensive rebounding team," head coach Steve Masiello said. "We didn't get it done. If a team is shooting well from the field and beating you on the backboards, that is going to catch up to you. That's what happened tonight."
Manhattan returns to action on Wednesday, November 20 at Illinois State. Game time is 8 p.m. Eastern, 7 p.m. Central time.
NOTES:
George Beamon moved into ninth place on the all-time Manhattan scoring list with 1,364 points, passing George Bucci '75 ... the Jaspers committed a season-low 12 turnovers ... Manhattan also had a season-high eight steals ... Manhattan shot 53.6 percent from the field in the first half and 27.6 percent in the second half ... Michael Alvarado had a team-high five assists and two turnovers ... Ashton Pankey had nine points and five rebounds ... Manhattan's bench again outscored the opposition, 28-13 ... the Jaspers had 22 points off turnovers.
